Irish teenagers
Sunday morning is devoted to Under 12s football and this weekend we travelled to an away game at Donabate, North Dublin. We gave a lift to two other players, and so there were three 12 year old boys sat in the back of the car, and since my son is new to the team and does not know the other boys well, I imagined the journey would be rather quiet.
But instead my husband and I were subjected to an interrogation and banter about everything from favourite musicians to where we came from, taking in along the way, favourite holiday destinations and best jokes. The opening gambit to my husband went along the lines of “so, my Dad’s big into Elvis; what’s your “thing?” When he admitted his “thing” was training for a 2011 Iron Man challenge, this was met with much hilarity and general teasing, mixed with admiration and curiosity.
It was an entertaining journey, to and from the match, and it made me realise how much more confident children are these days, to when I was the same age. At the risk of sounding ancient, kids just did not behave like that in my day. They (we) were shyer, quieter and less inclined to take an equal, much less a dominant, role in a conversation with unfamiliar adults.
I remember reading a recent article in an Irish newspaper about the phenomenon of Jedward, and how these two exuberantly confident young men were fairly representative of Irish youth, brought up to believe in themselves. Jedward aside, it is lovely to witness such confidence, especially when it is combined with good manners and kindness. The article compared Irish teenagers with those raised in Britain, and the assertion was that Irish teenagers are given a better deal. In Britain there seems to be more of a feeling that teenagers are not to be trusted. They certainly don’t normally get much of a good press.
I have often wondered how different my life could have been if I had had even a fraction of the confidence that today’s young ones have. Self-belief is key to the success of so many things; careers, creativity and relationships. But one thing I can be grateful for; I have two confident and brilliant sons, who don’t need to waste valuable years playing catch up with their self-esteem.
I've had the same experience with my twelve-year-old son's friends, both boys and girls; they are far more confident than me now, let alone 34 years ago. As you say, with good manners to boot, it's most refreshing.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, putting up a photo of two rude, talentless #!&$ers almost cost you a comment ;o)
I can't stand Jedward either, but I thought it would grab some attention!
ReplyDeleteGosh your post rang so many bells for me. I completely agree with you on the confidence stakes. I still struggle with enormous self-doubt and my signing up to the course (and tempting bankruptcy as a result - I dread the next email demanding funds from me) is almost a last-ditch attempt at shoring up some confidence that I could really make a go of writing. And I too spend a great deal of time wondering what if…what if I had a smattering more self-esteem, what paths would I have taken and how different would things be? But I don't despair or anything because despite it all, I tend to look on life as optimistically as I can.
ReplyDeleteJedward, don't get me started…My flat mate showed me an article recently about how much confidence and self-esteem comes from looks; the more good looking you the more confident. I won't go into details here but I do wonder how much extra attention the cute twins received throughout their lives which would've helped their emotional growth.